14 | theLAKER alumni spotlight Kris VanDuyne ’96 has a soft spot for students making the roller-coaster transition from childhood. Eight o’clock classes were not early enough for Kris VanDuyne ’96. She signed up for 7 a.m. “It was awesome because I worked out with my boss that I would be a few minutes late,” she says. In her early 20s, Kris was a full-time bookkeeper for Elderlee, a Geneva company that makes and installs highway products like signs and guardrails. An accounting major, she wanted to get a class in before work. She enjoyed a camaraderie with third-shift workers and others trying to balance adult lives with school. “One of our classmates had a brand new baby and she was bringing the baby. I love how FLCC was so incredibly accommodating.” Now, in her first year as principal at Canandaigua Middle School, she still draws on her FLCC experience. On a practical level, her accounting background makes school budgeting easier. Kris also identifies with students whose lives aren’t going the way they had hoped. Students at Canandaigua Middle School are accustomed to Principal Kris VanDuyne’s “traffic stops” with her rolling desk and its attached bicycle horn. Photo by Rikki Van CamP HONK IF YOU LOVE MIDDLE SCHOOL
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